In January 2025 St Matthew’s C of E Primary School signed up to work towards The Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA). This involved St Matthew’s showing it met national standards of good practice across a wide range of areas. The areas covered included the school environment, communication, information provided to parents, opportunities for parents and children to learn together, opportunities for adults to further their own learning, transition into school and nursery and support for leaving school. They also looked at school policies, the involvement of staff, children, governing body, parents and outside agencies. St Matthew’s also had to show that they evaluate their work and act on the findings, in order to identify things they can improve moving forward.
A group of parents supported the school through this process by forming a working group and they met with the assessor on the final assessment day. A group of children, including members of the School Parliament, also met with the assessor on 12 March when she visited school for the the final assessment.
St Matthew’s are proud and pleased to say she was very impressed with what she saw and their portfolio of evidence and they were successful in gaining the award.
The final report commented that Believe and Achieve and the school values of Hope, Courage and Respect thread through the everyday life of the school and that this echoes out into the community through parental engagement.
The parents commented:
The support from school spans wider than educational to enable parents to feel part of a safe environment where their children continue to thrive.
The children commented:
That they valued the workshops which enabled their parents to help them, and the opportunities provided for parents to celebrate their success.
St Matthew’s commented:
Attendance at workshops, assemblies, community events, adult education classes, and performances all help to build a school community. We are very proud of our community and look forward to carrying on our journey together in the future.